Need help with malicious boundary dispute

funnibunni

My neighbour is being malicious, in claiming that the boundary is out by about 5inchs ( this would mean it ran inside our house ) she also claims 1, canopy across our house is on her property, 2, gutting is on her property , our kitchen extension didn’t have a “yes” from former owner of her house ,4 rendering goes onto her property.
The canopy has been in situ for min of 45 yrs, the canopy about the same,the extension has been standing since 1988 with full planning permission..( built by a previous owner & niece of owner of house next door, the canopy “ 
I would love some advice to see if there is anything we can do without lining pockets of solicitors, we currently have house on market & just want to sell up & go … oh she has also called the estate agents 
if anyone could help me I’d be very grateful .. having had a rubbish year with serious health issues & losing my dad I don’t know how much more I can deal with 

thankyou just for reading. 

swingaloo

You posted about this in July. Did you contact your insurers as advised then?

bobster2

Previous thread 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6619018/hoping-someone-can-clarify

funnibunni

We looked our insurance & have no legal cover 

tacpot12

The options for dealing with this sort of issue outside of the courts are quite limited.

 In my experience, it can help to understand what they get out of doing this. Are they looking to have an extension built themselves, and want to be able to build closer to your property? Are they looking to sell their property and want to clear up a boundary discrepancy they are worried will be putting off prospective buyer? Do they have something against you or your husband personally; are they just aiming to inflict as much harm as possible because of this animosity?

 This might be a displacement activity for them. Might they be focusing on this issue to avoid having to deal with something worse? One thing you shouldn't do is to try to cause them some other problem to distract from this problem. If they discover you have done something actively to cause them another problem, they will be much worse. At the moment, all the fault seems to lie with the previous owners of the property, and I would use this to try to make progress.

Sometimes using a mediator can lead to breakthroughs. It might help them see that you haven't caused the problem, and you are stuck with it as they are. You might suggest that it would be better for you both to compromise reasonably now so that the new owners of your house know that they are not buying a problem, and the neighbour doesn't have to fall out with someone else OR risk that they are much more unreasonable.

 You always have the option to sell at auction, and you could drop it in to the conversation that you are thinking about doing so and that most properties bought at auction are bought by property developers, you might bring them around to seeing that helping you sell to someone who just wants a home is a good outcome.

I know these situations are very difficult, and that you will be thinking that the situation is hopeless, but it's not. A breakthrough might come at any time or from an unlikely source. I would definitely try mediation. If this does go to court, someone who WOULDN'T go to mediation is already on the back foot trying to convince the judge that they are a reasonable person.